


Trying to Find Atlantis

by DreadRedd



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, F/M, M/M, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:07:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25659472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreadRedd/pseuds/DreadRedd
Summary: On October 23, 2077, Annie Daniels's life is changed when she, her dad Nate, and baby brother Shaun have to evacuate their home and enter Vault 111 when the bombs are dropped on Boston. But when she escapes, she has to start from scratch, following one goal: finding her brother once more.A Fallout 4 story retelling, where the Sole Survivor is Shaun's sister, not mother. Canon divergent at parts.
Relationships: John Hancock/Female Sole Survivor/Nick Valentine
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	1. War Never Changes

_ One...two...three...four… _ I counted as I stretched my right arm across my chest, holding it out with my left hand. In just a few days, the Boston gymnastics competition would take place, and it was all I’d been able to think about over the past few weeks. Codsworth had been super helpful, reading the instructions from my yoga book to me while I focused on holding the positions. Dad was proud of me. I think he was glad that his kid was keeping up her fitness just like he did; said some of the best guys in his platoon were gymnasts. 

The doorbell rang, jolting me out of my focus.

“Do you mind grabbing the door, sweetie? Shaun’s finally agreed to eat.” Dad called.

“On it!” I hopped off my floor mat and opened the door.

Standing in the doorway was a man wearing a tan fedora and trenchcoat. “Vault-tec calling!” He said with a smile. “Are you…” He checked his clipboard. “Annie Daniels?”

“Yes, who’re you?” I asked. What was ‘Vault-tec’? And how did they know me?

“I’m Trent, I work for Vault-tec. I’m looking for your father, Nate. Is he around?”

Now I just had more questions. “Um, hold on. Lemme go find him.”

I left him at the door, and jogged down the hallway to Shaun’s room. Dad sat in the lounge chair in the corner of the room, cradling Shaun in one arm, and holding a bottle of formula in the other. He looked up to me when I entered. “Who is it?”

“Some Trent from Vault-tec?” I replied. “He’s looking for you.”

Dad sighed, then nodded. “Okay. Yeah, he was here the other day while you were at school. Here, can you take your brother?”

I held my arms out, and carefully lifted him up, balancing his head in the crook of my elbow, and taking his bottle with my free hand. He latched onto it almost immediately; seems like once he understood what the bottle was, he was eager to eat. I chuckled. What a cutie. “You always behave better for me than for dad anyway, huh bud?”

“Ah, Mr. Daniels, good morning!” I heard Trent say from the front room. His voice carried down the hall.

“Morning.” Dad sounded a bit off; maybe tired? 

“I’m glad I caught you. We have a very important offer for you from Vault-tec! Since you served our country in the armed forces, and we here at Vault-tec greatly appreciate your service, we have an offer to help protect you and your family in the event of nuclear fallout.”

The threat of all-out war always loomed on the horizon. I tried not to think about it much, but I knew that it was always a possibility.

“What’re you offering?”

“Space in a state of the art underground vault, room for all four of you!”

There was a moment of silence, before dad continued, “Which four?”

“Yourself, your wife, and your children?” Trent’s voice wavered slightly.

“My wife passed about a year ago. Just me and the kids, unless you’ve got room for Codsworth here too.”

I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation, as Shaun started to cry. I looked down at his bottle; he’d drank most of it, good. I slowly lifted him up, draped his burp cloth over my shoulder, and laid him across my chest to try and burp him. He was a fussy little guy, but we’ve fallen into a routine. Sometimes I can’t tell if he thinks I’m his mom, or knows I’m his sister, but I like to think mom would be proud of how I’m helping to raise him.

As if he knew I was thinking of her, I felt Shaun’s chunky little hand grab my necklace. It was a simple chain with dad’s old dog tags on it and mom’s engagement ring. She was buried with her wedding ring, but she gave me her engagement ring before she died. She joked that when my hands got chubby like hers that it would fit better, but she liked that it put it with the dog tags. Shaun, of course, just liked anything he could get his tiny fingers on, and my necklace was just the right size.

“Hey, burp now, playtime later, okay bub?” I chuckled. I gave him a kiss on the top of his head. He barely had hair, but it was just enough to feel fuzzy. “I love you, but I’d rather you not choke me.”

He let out a few small burps, then began babbling. 

“He’s great conversation, huh?”

I looked up and saw dad in the doorway again. I grinned. “Oh yeah, a real smartie pants.”

Dad sat down on the floor, leaning his back against the closet. He took a slow breath, then looked back up to me. “So, the guy at the door. He works for Vault-tec-- those guys have worked with the government to make underground bunkers across the country to keep citizens safe if war breaks out around here.” He hesitated. “I...I don’t want it to happen, and I don’t know if it will. But you’re a smart girl, Ann, you watch the news with me.”

I nodded. I knew it was always possible. Nobody liked to talk about it. Neighborhood social hours almost always silenced when the news came on. “So he was trying to sell us a place?”

“Not quite. He  _ gave  _ us a place.”

“Like, for free?”

He leaned over and gently put a finger on his dog tags as they hung around my neck. “Your old man’s service is being rewarded. Offering space to all vets, he says.”

“Where?”

“Y’know the hill behind the river? It’s a bit behind there.”

I nodded. It felt weird to be talking about it with him. I knew it was important, but I hated thinking about it. Dad never told me much about war, only one thing: ‘War never changes.’

“So...what do we do now?” I asked.

“Right now, nothing,” he replied. “But if the day comes, raid sirens will air, and the three of us will book it to the shelter. Once there, the staff will guide us down. We’ll be safe then.”

I paused. Three? Me, dad, Shaun, then-- “Codsworth isn’t coming?”

Dad glanced down, but then looked back at me and looked me in the eyes. “I’m sorry. He can’t. He’ll be okay, though.”

I didn’t like the idea of leaving Codsworth behind. He’d become part of the family over the ten years we’d had him. Would he really be okay? Metal wouldn’t be hurt too bad, wouldn’t it? Maybe if he just hid when things broke out, maybe he could survive long enough for me to see him again… 

I held my pinky finger out. “Promise?”

Dad let out a small smile and hooked his pinky with mine. “Promise. Now c’mon, the little guy ate, let’s get us some lunch, huh?”

I nodded and grinned. I slowly stood up, making sure to balance Shaun, and followed him out to the kitchen.


	2. Descent

We weren’t ready for the bombs dropping. I didn’t think it would happen. Not this soon, anyway. It was around 2 in the afternoon when the sirens started blaring through the neighborhood. Shaun started screaming, and dad and I both ran to grab him. Dad picked him up and looked at me.

“We’re heading to the vault. Now.”

“Should I grab anything?”

“Just a bottle for Shaun. We can’t take anything else.”

I nodded and we ran into the kitchen. I opened up the cupboard and grabbed one of Shaun’s bottles, whichever one I could get my hands on. All I cared about was that if it had a top on it, which it did.

Dad tugged the door open and waved for me to come through.

I looked back into the house, then looked at Codsworth. “We’ll be back soon, Codsworth. You’re gonna be okay.”

“Travel safe, Miss Annie,” he said, his usual chipper voice not even wavering.

I nodded, and dad and I ran out of the front door and down the road.

Sanctuary Hills was normally a quaint, calm neighborhood. All the houses were owned by families, or couples looking to start families. Mom and dad had moved here to find a good place to raise me, and eventually, Shaun. It was our home, our everything.

And now the streets were filled with panicked neighbors, all running to the same place we were-- the now clearly fenced off entrance to the local vault.

I focused on following close behind dad, running up the hill. We arrived at the gate, people crowding around it.

“Okay people, back off, back off. Unless you have approval to enter the vault already, you have to stay out, I’m sorry. Vault-tec orders.” A man wearing a Vault-tec uniform stood in front of the gate holding a clipboard.

“We have approval.” Dad said, his voice booming. He grabbed my hand and we pushed through the crowd. “Daniels. Nate, Annie, and Shaun.”

The man looked down at his clipboard, looked back at us, and nodded. “You three head on in. Thank you for your service, sir.”

Dad nodded, and we passed through the gate. 

I couldn’t look behind us. People were screaming, crying. I almost felt guilty, knowing that I was going to go to safety and they weren’t, but I was relieved that we were going to be safe. And after dad’s hard work serving ten years in Alaska, I was glad he was being at least somewhat rewarded.

We were ushered onto a large platform with a few other neighbors; two couples and a single man. I recognized them, but didn’t have enough time to think of who they were. At least we’d have some familiar faces in the vault.

“That’s the last few!” The man at the gate called. “Send it down!”

“Going down!” Another man called. He climbed on the platform with us. “Hold tight, folks.”

Dad wrapped one arm around me, and I quickly grabbed onto him, holding him and Shaun tight. I looked over to see Sanctuary Hills for the last time, then screamed. In the distance, a large boom echoed, and a column of light raised into the sky. The light was blinding, and I buried my face into Shaun’s back, trying to focus on the feeling of being there with him and dad.

The floor below us rumbled, and we stood as still as we could, but it wasn’t easy. I heard large gears grinding, and we were slowly lowered down under the earth. Shaun was still crying. I didn’t blame him, but I just kept talking to him as we moved.

“You’re okay, lovebug. We’re going here to be safe. I love you. I love you.” I just kept talking. I couldn’t even look, but if I could hear dad’s heartbeat and feel him and Shaun next to me, I could focus just enough. 

Dad kissed the top of my head. I took a slow breath. Darkness engulfed us, and the sound of grinding gears told me that the area above had now been sealed. I looked up, blinking a few times. I couldn’t see the sky anymore, and knew we were officially in-- and safe. 

“Alright, folks, come on out. Welcome to your new home, Vault 111.” A woman in a Vault-tec uniform opened the gate in front of us and waved us in with a smile. “We’re happy to have you here.”

We followed the crowd out of the elevator, heading towards a few tables in the back of the room with employees offering vault suits. A man held one out to dad, and then looked to Shaun. “Oh, this is the little guy! How handsome,” he said. He opened a box and pulled out a small, infant-sized vault suit. “We made sure to have one of these made for him too.”

I smiled slightly. It was nice that they were looking out for everyone in the vault. Maybe this new home would be nice after all. He passed a suit to me. “There’s a changing room right behind me. Once you guys are changed, one of the doctors will come chat with you.”

“Thank you,” dad said.

I stepped into the changing room first, taking off my dress and stepping into the vault suit. It was strangely comfortable, being made of a material not unlike the stretch pants I used for gymnastics. I zipped it up the front and draped my dress over my shoulder, then stepped out. I held my arms out to take the still-crying Shaun.

“Poor guy,” I murmured. 

Dad nodded, smiling slightly. “Yeah. I’m sure he’ll get used to it.”

I lifted him into my arms to let dad change into his vault suit. I balanced his tiny feet on my stomach, leaning back slightly so he could pretend to stand up and look at me. He grumbled, hiccuping as his tears slowed down. 

I smiled at him. “There’s my cute little guy! How’s my best friend in the whole wild world, huh?”

Shaun babbled a bit, still looking upset. 

“We’re gonna be okay. You, and me, and dad, we’re all gonna be okay.” I knew I was saying this for me. Sure, talking to him always calmed him down, but he couldn’t understand me. He could understand my tone, and that was about it. If it worked, though, I couldn’t say no.

After a minute, dad popped back out, still adjusting the sleeves of his vault suit. “How do I look?” He grinned.

“You’re a fashion icon, dad,” I replied. We were both smiling, but it was obvious we were both nervous. I knew I was. Focusing on Shaun is what kept me grounded. “Here, you hold him, and I’ll wiggle him into his new outfit.”

Slowly but surely, Shaun agreed to wear the vault suit, despite a few kicks and protests. He hated changing his clothes, but as soon as he was in a new set, he seemed completely fine. Dad held him up, and he made a small gurgling noise. “My thoughts exactly,” dad said, pretending to reply to whatever Shaun had said.

“Are you the Daniels family?”

I looked over and saw a man in a white lab coat approaching us with a clipboard.

“Yes, how can we help you?” Dad asked, cradling Shaun back in his arms.

“I’m Doctor Walker, one of the doctors that’ll be living here in the vault with you. We’re having all the residents go through brief medical examinations before entering the main living area, just a general safety precaution. Are you guys ready to head down?” He smiled.

Dad nodded, and we followed behind him through a door and down a hallway. We stepped into a room with eight huge, cocoon-like pods, each with a large chair inside.

“These are medical scanners,” Dr. Walker explained, gesturing to one. “They’re state of the art, designed by Vault-tec for non-invasive basic medical examinations. They also let us know if there are any current medical conditions that require further exams.”

He turned to look at dad. “You can also hold the little one while in there. I can set it to recognize an adult and an infant.” He leaned over to the control panel next to the scanner and pressed a few buttons. A positive tone echoed from it. “Are you ready?”

I looked at the scanner. They looked weird, and something tightened in my gut. Something felt weird. I looked back over to dad. He nodded. “You’re okay, kid.”

He climbed into the seat in the scanner that Dr. Walker had opened for him, sitting down and being sure not to jostle Shaun.

I nodded back at him, then sat in the scanner across from it.

“Alright, this’ll only take a few seconds,” Dr. Walker said. He pressed a button on dad’s scanner, and the hood on it lowered, sealing dad and Shaun inside. He then walked over to me, smiled at me, and then did the same to mine.

“5...4…” A robotic female voice spoke on the inside of the pod.

“3...2…” I felt my joints stiffen, and freezing cold air completely surrounded me.

“1.” Everything went dark.


	3. Not Even Goodbye

I felt my eyes. They were the first thing I felt. The only thing I felt, for a while. It took me ages, but eventually I could open them. I was still in the medical scanner. My entire body felt like it was stuck to the chair. I tried to wiggle, but I was completely numb.

“There he is.”

A voice I didn’t recognize came from outside of the scanner. I couldn’t move to look, but two people stepped into my field of view. One wore what looked like a hazmat suit, and the other was bald but wearing some kind of weird armor-looking suit.

“This is the one,” the person in the hazmat suit said, pointing to the medical scanner that dad and Shaun were in.

What? Which one of them? And why are they talking about them?

“Open it,” the bald man said.

The person in the hazmat suit pressed a few buttons on the control pad, and the lid of the scanner started to open.

After a few seconds, dad started to cough, and Shaun immediately started crying. I desperately tried to move. I needed to get to them. Why couldn’t I move?

The hazmat person held their arms out to Shaun, but dad held him closer. They tried to grab Shaun, pulling him away.

“No, no, I’ve got him!” Dad said, sounding tired and a bit groggy.

The bald man stared straight at dad. “Let the boy go.” He raised a pistol towards his face. “I’m only gonna tell you once.”

God, I tried to scream, I needed to scream, if I didn’t scream I’d lose my mind.

Why was he threatening dad? Why did they want Shaun? I braced every muscle in my body, trying to move, but nothing was working. My limbs ached, feeling like they were on ice. 

“I’m not giving you Shaun!” Dad yelled.

One of my arms finally gave way, and I banged on the door.

A gunshot rang out, and a bullet flew into dad’s forehead.

No.

NO!

I banged on the door again, desperate to do anything to change the situation. I was so stiff I couldn’t even cry. God, I tried to scream, I tried so fucking hard, but I couldn’t move anything. I banged as hard as I could. My muscles ached, but I needed to get out and get out NOW!

The scanner closed, and the hazmat person carried Shaun away. My boy, God, my boy! Bring him back, he needs me!

The bald man walked up to my scanner and tilted his head. “At least we still have the backup.”

I banged on the door, trying to scare him, but he didn’t even react. He just walked away. The sound of Shaun crying slowly faded into the distance, and as it did, my world faded to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a shorter chapter, but I knew that adding this to 2 or 4 would've made it way too long. Thanks for reading, commenting, and leaving kudos! It really means a lot to me. I'm also playing FO4 as Annie alongside the story, so for those of you who are curious, here are her stats!  
> S: 2 / P: 3 / E: 5 / C: 5 / I: 3 / A: 7 / L: 3


	4. Out of Time

I didn’t know how long it was until I opened my eyes again. The door to the scanner-- or whatever it was-- fell open, and I stumbled out. I landed shoulder-first on the ground and cried out in pain. Fuck, shoulder falls always hurt.

I strained my limbs, trying to move them. I moved one finger. Then a hand. Then both hands. I worked down each part of my body, regaining feeling in the muscles and bones. I pushed myself back up into a standing position and looked around.

That’s when I remembered.

I forced the pod door open, and there was dad. Motionless. Ice covering his body. A frozen-over wound in his head.

I couldn’t stop crying. I grabbed onto him, holding him as tight as I could, as if I’d be able to bring him back. His body was frigid and stiff, and even hugging him hurt my skin.

I crumbled to the floor, burying my head in my hands. “What am I gonna do without you?” I mumbled. After losing mom, dad and I relied a lot on one another. We were partners in crime, always looking out for one another, and working together to take care of Shaun.

“Oh God, Shaun!” I jumped up, looking around. I stopped to listen-- there was no sound. No footprints. No breath. The only thing I heard was a faint skittering in the distance. Whoever had taken him, they were long gone now.

I looked back at dad, then down to his ring. I tugged it off his finger, being careful not to break anything. I unclipped my necklace, then slid his ring onto it, next to his dog tags and mom’s engagement ring. “If I can, I’ll be back for you. I’ll give you the ring back. I’ll bury you with mom.” I kissed his forehead, closing my eyes tight to try and keep away more tears. “I promise, dad. I promise I’ll do good. I love you.”

I stepped back, looking at him. I wasn’t ready to leave him. My chest tightened, and I could feel the tears still trickling down my cheeks. I took a slow, deep breath. I had to continue. It’s what he would want. And I couldn’t die down here.

I had to find Shaun. We could be a family again, even if it was just me and him. And that was what kept me going.

I turned and headed down the hallway. I couldn’t bear to look into any of the other scanners. I knew my neighbors were there, and a dark feeling in my gut told me they all looked like dad. Covered in frost, faces unmoving. Hopefully it was painless.

There hadn’t been a long walk from the entrance to this room, so I knew the way to go. I tried to push the door open, but it was stuck shut.  _ Shit. _

“Okay. Backup plan…” I looked around, and spotted a door to my left. “That way.” 

I pushed the door open, and froze. A giant roach walked around on the floor.  _ Oh hell no. _ And then it saw me. Its disgusting little legs sprinted at me, and I knew I was in panic mode. I raised my leg and stomped down on it, hearing the awful crunch under my boot. After a moment, I looked down. It looked dead. I slowly moved my boot away, and sighed. Thank God. It was dead.

I continued forward, trying to find any way out. After a few more doors, I found my way to what looked like an office. I stopped short, seeing someone behind the desk. Wait-- nope. It was a skeleton. I shuddered, realizing that was absolutely worse. They couldn’t have died from the blast, but were they...killed? They were just sitting at their desk like there was nothing wrong.

Then I noticed the pistol on the desk. 10mm, I remembered. Dad used to take me to gun safety courses at the range, and we practiced together in case I ever needed to defend myself.

After seeing what happened to him, I had a bad feeling that I needed to. I picked up the pistol and the ammo that was left on the desk. Best case scenario, I didn’t need it. Worst case scenario, I did, but I was prepared.

I saw a small blinking light on the desk terminal. The computer still worked? It was still on? I stepped around the skeleton, looking it over, hoping for some sort of answer-- or a way out.

I selected the option labeled “Vault 111 Security Instructions.”

_ Vault 111 is designed to test the long-term effects of suspended animation on unaware, human subjects. _

I couldn’t continue. The freezing wasn't a mistake or an error. They purposefully did this to us. I gritted my teeth. If that fucking Vault-tec rep hadn’t showed up…

I sighed. No, if he hadn’t showed up, we’d all be dead. I needed to be grateful for my life. And Shaun’s. But would I have rather us all died together? I didn’t know. But right now, it wasn’t what I needed to think about. I just had to leave.

Investigating the terminal more, I found a menu that claimed to open an emergency access door. That was my best guess. I hadn’t used a ton of computers before all of this, so I was just hoping I was doing the right thing. I cocked the gun, preparing to fight if I had to, and headed out the door.

Most of the rooms I came across were empty, save for old, beaten-up pieces of furniture. I found an old bag, which I filled with whatever loot I could find; bottles of water, some health kits called “Stimpacks,” and two more boxes of 10mm ammo. I hoped I wouldn’t need it, but it was better to be overprepared than underprepared.

Finally, a door slid open, and I saw the vault door. This was my way out. I ran up to the platform, looking for a way to open it. The monitor next to the release button read, “To access the vault door, connect your Pip-Boy.” 

I raised an eyebrow. A Pip-Boy? I glanced around the room, then stepped back when I realized I was right next to a skeleton. I sighed. Great, this was going to be a regular occurrence, wasn’t it? 

That’s when I noticed a strange-looking device attached to his arm. I bent down to look at it, and found a weird smile cross my face when I saw the words “Pip-Boy” written across the top. I carefully slipped it off his arm and pulled it onto my own. After a moment, the screen blinked to life. I looked it over, finding a cord and a plug. I plugged it into the machine in front of me, and pressed the button. I held my breath, hoping for the best.

A loud hiss echoed from the enormous vault door. A claw latched onto the back of it, hissed, and slowly pulled it back. The cog-shaped door groaned as it left its position, and one rusty hinge at a time, moved its way towards the ceiling, leaving me a clear path.

I hopped on the platform and walked across, seeing the service elevator that took us down in the first place. I took one step into it, then stopped.

I looked back, seeing the room where dad and I were off in the distance. “I’m gonna get him, dad. And we’ll be a family again. I promise.” 

I stared at the elevator again, feeling frozen. Every inch of my body was telling me ‘go, get up there and survive’, but my heart was breaking over and over again.

I took a deep breath, stepped onto the elevator, and pressed the “up” button. I made sure my new pistol was fully loaded, adjusted my bag on my shoulder, and stared towards the ceiling as light began leaking into my view.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a tough one to write, and it took probably as long as the first three combined. But now that she's heading out the vault, I'm gonna have a lot more to work with!
> 
> I have a Fallout-only blog on Tumblr where I'll eventually be posting & sharing more about Annie, as well as my two other Fallout 4 OCs, if you wanna follow me there! It's atlantisfallout.tumblr.com :)


End file.
